Dr Kristina Tomášová, a former long-standing zoologist at SAFARI PARK Dvůr Králové, received the award for her lifetime contribution to the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and to species conservation. She is the first Czech recipient of this prestigious EAZA award.

The EAZA Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honour presented during the closing plenary session of the EAZA Annual Conference. It recognises individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to improving animal husbandry, advancing professional expertise and knowledge, animal welfare, or nature conservation. No Czech national had received the award before.

Dr Kristina Tomášová spent 33 years at Dvůr Králové Zoo, devoting a significant part of her professional career to rhinoceroses. She was instrumental in establishing the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for the white rhinoceros and coordinated the programme for more than ten years.

She contributed to research into rhinoceros reproduction and behaviour, including work involving the critically endangered northern white rhinoceros. She also served on the EEP Committee, which oversees the operation of the European population management programmes, of which there are now more than 500.

She played an important role in bringing zoos in Central and Eastern Europe into pan-European cooperation and coordinated, science-based breeding programmes. She was also one of the architects of the EAZA Rhino Campaign, a Europe-wide conservation campaign dedicated to rhinoceros protection.

Alongside Dr Kristina Tomášová, a Lifetime Achievement Award was also presented to Pierre Gay, a long-time friend of SAFARI PARK and Director of Bioparc – Zoo de Doué-la-Fontaine and Zoo des Sables d’Olonne.